What has 364 wheels and looks after council houses?

We’ve had 78 new panel vans and six flatbed pickups for our Housing Repairs team, and seven pickups for our estate caretaking team, which will help our operatives carry out repairs for our customers across more than 11,200 council houses

Our previous fleet was a mix of Ford Transits, Fiat Forino and Vauxhall Corsa, and had been on the road for some years – with some of them having served us for over 11 years!

Due to the age of some vehicles in the old fleet, breakdowns were frequent and we often had to rely on externally hired vehicles to get things done.

A lot of the work the repairs team has to do has become larger, especially when working on void properties, meaning they need better and more reliable transport to ensure targets are met.

Better-presented vehicles

With a new Housing & Economy senior management team in place, approval was gained to upgrade the fleet and bring all of our Housing Repair and caretaker vehicles up to a more reliable, better-presented professional standard.

The new MAN vans are the first major contract in the light commercial sector for our new local supplier AN Richards, of Froncysyllte and the MAN vehicles are new to the market, the company having only started manufacture of the light commercial vehicles back in September 2017

Johanna Cooke, AN Richards company secretary said: “As a family run local business, AN Richards are extremely proud to be supplying these vehicles to Wrexham County Borough Council’s housing repairs service.

“The contract is not only important to us, but also for MAN as the manufacturer and we are looking forward to ensuring the working relationship is a success.”

“Important we have a serviceable fleet”

Cllr David Griffiths, Lead Member for Housing, said: “Our Housing Repairs team provide a round-the-clock service 365 days a year for all council tenants – whether that’s at council houses or in sheltered housing.

“As such, it’s very important that we have a serviceable and reliable fleet across all of our estates.

“We want tenants to know and feel that they’re getting a good professional service from us. Part of that is in presentation, and these new vans certainly tick that box.

“I’d like to thank AN Richards for their work in supplying us with the new fleet, and I’m especially pleased that we’ve been able to source the new vehicles through a local company.”